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~firecrow78:iconfirecrow78:

Ryan Firchau  

  • Status: Member
  • Conceptual Artist
  • Male/United Kingdom
  • Offline for 9h 42m 44s
  • Deviant since Mar 13, 2005, 1:57 PM
  • 17 Deviations
  • 1 Scrap [browse]
  • 16 Deviation Comments
  • 7 Deviant Comments
  • 1 Forum Post
  • 1,323 Pageviews

My time at the Nordic Games Conference

Journal Entry: Fri May 16, 2008, 9:25 AM
It’s all over… All that last minute planning and worrying and it was over in a flash.

I’ve just returned from the annual Nordic Games Conference in Malmo Sweden. I had the honor of being invited to sit on a panel of world renowned character designers all of which seemed much better qualified to be there then I did. I held my own so to speak which I am quite proud of. My fellow panelists included Ryosuke Tei, Creative Director, Furi Furi, Ryuuta Ueda, Art Director, Sega and Alex Taini, Art Director of Ninja Theory. Everyone was just so nice, really down to earth which was cool. It was a show and tell for which I was asked to give apresentation of my work and this was to be followed by a discussion on East meets west cultural differences in character design.

I flew out on the Tuesday with my best friend and fellow concept artist Peter Hentze. Pete was supposed to join me on the panel but a last minute change in the schedule meant that they only had one place left on the panel so I volunteered to do it. We were met at the Airport by representatives of the Nordic Games conference, as well as a couple of fellow speakers. Jasmin, a cool and totally crazy German woman who owns and runs Pixel-Tamer, and a blond haired guy who’s name I can’t remember. We stayed at the same hotel as Jasmin who turned out to be a veteran of the Games conference scene, which was great because she took us under her wing. It was cool she introduced us to so many people everyone seemed to know her.

The first evening we attended a Speakers Party at a building called Turning Torso, it’s very famous in the Nordic regions, and with good reason it’s the strangest building I’ve ever been in.
Inside we went to the top floor the penthouse which was on the 54th floor, my ears popped twice in the elevator. The views from that height are astounding and the place was decorated in such a way that it reminded me of a Bond villains head quarters. So this was where we had the party so we could all get to know each other before the talks.

The following day was the day of the presentation and after very little sleep and too much beer I was feeling all the worse for my big day. I had a rotten hangover and bloodshot eyes with no sunglasses to cover up my alcohol abuse from the previous night. The one good thing about feeling so bad was it does tend to take the edge of the nerves. We got our passes the night before from the Turning Torso so we went straight to the convention. I was able to get a look at the conference hall in which I was doing my presentation , thankfully it was a bit smaller than what I’d been imagining(Wembley stadium). I attended a lecture in the same room to get a feel for what it would be like with an audience, and it just made me feel even more nervous. I was set to go on straight after lunch and I had really lost my appetite at this point so I did a bit of last minute prep instead.

Finally the moment had come and I was really feeling the nerves then I met Alex a fellow panelist who was unable to attend the previous nights party. I asked him if he had ever done a talk or presentation before and he said no. I don’t know why, but that made me feel so much better, I wasn’t the only Noob.

As it turned out the talk went great and it was all over just as I was getting into my stride. After that I cut loose and got very drunk and mixed and networked with loads of cool and funny people. I’m really glad I decided to do this.

  • Mood: Relief
  • Listening to: people talking about Games Development
  • Reading: The Dark River, book two of The Fourth Realm
  • Watching: oceans 13 last night,
  • Playing: Resident Evil 4
  • Eating: Again thank you.
  • Drinking: lots of beer and some tea

Devious Information

  • Current Age: 29 soon to hit 30
  • Current Residence: Midlands UK
  • Interests: Drawing, sculpting, movies, all the usual things.
  • Favourite movie: Fight Club, Constantine, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Matrix...So so many.
  • Favourite band or musician: Cypress Hill/ Audio Slave/ Pearl Jam
  • Favourite artist: Paul Bonner
  • Favourite poet or writer: Terry Pratchett, John Twelve Hawkes
  • Favourite game: Oddworld stranger wrath, resident evil 2
  • Favourite gaming platform: xbox 360, I have to say that, I work for them.
  • Favourite cartoon character: Ren and Stimpy
  • Tools of the Trade: Photoshop CS2 and Painter IX pencils markers super sculpey

Devious Comments

~ask-the-dr:iconask-the-dr: 10 hours 12 minutes ago
You got a really decent gallery man
Love the sculpting

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all i know is kool aid is better than flavor aid
~sadisticpsycho:iconsadisticpsycho: 4 days 1 hour ago
Great art!

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聾子聽到啞巴說瞎子看到鬼。
I am automatically offended by anythng that starts with a "No offense..."
宇智波鼬~<3
~firecrow78:iconfirecrow78: 4 days 16 hours ago
Thank you all for the positive comments I really appreciate them.
~BloodAxe666:iconBloodAxe666: 5 days 17 hours ago
Cool Shit dude.
You work for Microsoft? Kick ass!!
~Elemenestra:iconElemenestra: 6 days 15 hours ago
your gallery is pretty awesome ^^ :D :D :D

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My authentic japanese name is 秋本 Akimoto (true autumn) 弓美 Yumi (beautiful bow, as in bow and arrow).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!<

*Symptomz:iconSymptomz: Apr 22, 2008, 1:35:23 PM
FUCKING AWESOME

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The Shape of Punk to Come
~kittymadness:iconkittymadness: Apr 22, 2008, 12:42:35 AM
Ah! Cool gallery! I'm watching you!! :D
*shaz:iconshaz: Apr 21, 2008, 12:32:10 PM
Christ! You're a hidden gem!

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Who's your money on?

:jedi: VS :jarksaber:

Adult yes, but still prone to adolescent flashbacks, thank you!

:D ~shazmatthews :D
~ChickenKai:iconChickenKai: Apr 21, 2008, 12:07:28 PM
Wohoaa! Nice gallery, I wonder why there hasn't been so many watches until now, well WATCH button... CLICK!:D

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Die for your home, religion and homeland! Well... that home I can take, but religion and homeland I must think twice...
*sHusky:iconsHusky: Apr 21, 2008, 6:47:53 AM
You've got a very impressive gallery, very talented in what you do indeed; would like to collect all of them, but maybe I'll just set a watch on you.
Cheers.
S.

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Mucho Misterioso....[link]
*F1yMordecai:iconF1yMordecai: Apr 21, 2008, 6:42:50 AM
oh wow, your work is incredible. I'm watching you.

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What the Flux in progress of taking over the moon.
~billythebrain:iconbillythebrain: Apr 20, 2008, 10:56:21 PM
I second byombu. how can you only have under 200 pageviews in over three years! The mind boggles. Your work is stunning.

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A jack of all trades is a master of none.
A master of all trades don't get jack done.
*JWDesignCenter:iconJWDesignCenter: Apr 20, 2008, 7:29:12 PM
Fabulous Work! Very inspiring.

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~Jen

Visit my website [link]
~shadowsniper777:iconshadowsniper777: Apr 20, 2008, 5:22:26 PM Mood: Wow!
wow, awesome pieces u got!
*Bam-Bam-2006:iconBam-Bam-2006: Apr 20, 2008, 4:57:33 PM
:icondarklightmedia: said you were good and to check you out. He was right. Though your works is a little creepy for me your talent is undeniable.

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To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue, gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. Confucius

My icon was created and provided by [link]
~firecrow78:iconfirecrow78: Apr 10, 2008, 3:38:53 AM
Thanks for that comment byombu, very kind of you to say.
I’ve been working as a concept artist and character modeler for about eight years now but I’ve never posted my work, mainly because it belongs to the company. I have been putting together my own body of work and this is the start of something new for me.
~byombu:iconbyombu: Apr 9, 2008, 8:38:32 PM
I don't think I've seen someone so good fly so completely under the radar.

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"I'm not upset because you left me this way; my eyes are just a little sweaty today." -Jemaine Clement.
~WishComeTrue:iconWishComeTrue: Jul 25, 2007, 9:34:22 AM
Helllo! I am the first person to EVA COMMENT on your page! ;P Kewl.

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:cookie: Does your siggy have a cookie in it? No? I didn't think so.

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